IRVINE >> One of the Redlands East Valley High School boys water polo team’s finest defensive sequences of the 2016 campaign was followed by a lapse that led right to the season’s end.

The Wildcats were narrowly defeated by Aliso Niguel 8-7 Wednesday at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 semifinals to fall just short of making their second consecutive finals appearance.

“They were matching up their best defenders on our offensive players and we were matching ours on theirs,” said REV coach Ryan Williams, whose team won the Division 5 title last year. “It was basically a game of chess and they came out on top with 9 seconds to go.”

As the back-and-forth second half drew to a close, REV’s Chad Gornay tied the match at 7 with 1:03 to play on a cross-cage shot to beat the shot clock.

At the other end, the Wildcats’ Nick Flemington got hit with an exclusion with 39 seconds left and the Wolverines milked as much of the clock as they could, working the ball around for an opening.

Despite excellent man-advantage defense by REV (23-5), Aliso Niguel (20-6) eventually got the shot it was looking for, an open look from 3 meters, but goalkeeper Harrison Land came up with a huge save.

The ball was deflected out of bounds, giving the Wolverines one more shot with 12 seconds left. Colin Knight, who led all scorers with five goals, received the ball when the play was reset and found enough daylight to bury a 10-meter goal from straightaway for the win.

Flemington’s final lob attempt from the edge of the pool deck 20 feet from the goal sailed over the top of the cage as time expired.

“It just happened to fall their way,” Williams said. “I’m so proud of my kids. Aliso played very, very well and my kids played tremendous all year. They’re a great group of kids and I wouldn’t exchange any last-second situation for the season that we had.”

The Wildcats jumped out to a 3-1 lead on goals by Zach Arthur and Gornay (twice) in the first quarter, but could never quite recapture that momentum after Aliso Niguel settled in and went on a 3-1 run to end the first half tied at 4.

Knight scored twice in the third and REV kept pace with a goal by Jacob Bills on a nice spin move with 37 seconds left in the quarter.

At the start of the fourth, REV was able to draw an ejection and tie the match at 6 on a goal by Christian Solis at the 5:50 mark.

Jared Gornay came up with a steal to stop the Wolverines on the next possession, but his skip attempt at the other end was blocked. A few moments later Aliso Niguel’s Nick Ure drew an ejection of Jared Gornay on a strong-side turn and Knight capitalized with his fourth goal to make it 7-6.

“We’re trying to grow and grow each year and get better and better,” said Williams, whose team won the Citrus Belt League title. “We had nine freshmen last year that are now all sophomores. We were lucky to have some senior leadership this year to guide those kids through. We’re ready to get back to another division semifinal next year.”

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